Chapter 66: The Exiled Marquise’s Daughter and the Impoverished Viscount’s Second Son 5
*
It happened the moment the Magicka Waves, which had been pressing against my eardrums at regular intervals, stopped.
I clearly heard the sound of something shattering in the distance.
Shara said something, but I couldn’t hear her voice. That’s how I understood it wasn’t just something that shattered, but space itself.
Smiling, Shara was saying something to Erika and me.
In this situation, seeing Shara speak with a smile filled me more with bewilderment than surprise.
I naturally found myself reading her lips.
“Look—’s voice—Erika is—that—It’s alright, God—”
Before Shara could finish speaking, an impact struck me, shaking my head violently, and I gave up trying to read her lips.
Suddenly, I thought I heard a voice in the distance that wasn’t Shara’s or Erika’s.
“Grant protection to the Maiden’s Sword—” it said.
*
Now, about what happened after that.
Well, to put it simply, we were completely unharmed.
I know it sounds like a lie, even I thought so, but it was the truth, so what can you do?
Shara excitedly shouted about Divine Protection, and seeing the church still standing unscathed in the Demon Realm, now a wasteland where not a single blade of grass grew, I could understand why she’d say that.
In reality, wasn’t it because the Barrier Generator installed in the church—in other words, the Divine Relic—detected us and deployed a Barrier? That was Erika’s and my impression.
Erika even felt her own Magicka being drawn towards the church.
For me, just an ordinary person, not the Maiden of Light or anything special, that explanation made much more sense and was far more convincing than Shara’s talk of Divine Protection.
Gods don’t just hand out personal favors like that.
Well, Shara was surprised we hadn’t heard that voice, repeatedly asking if we were sure, until Erika consoled her, saying that sometimes people hear things (like that) when they’re tense.
If you’ll allow me to be extremely personal, Erika’s smile is more important than any divine miracle.
Eh? You didn’t ask about that? Well, the truths of this world are often hard to grasp. Though, I think the idea that ‘Anything is possible with Erika’s smile’ is a simple truth.
Anyway, to be honest, a major catastrophe had just occurred, blowing away part of the Demon Realm’s middle layer, so I wanted to retreat as quickly as possible, but…
Erika’s Magicka hadn’t recovered yet, and since our original objective was right before our eyes, we decided to set aside the question of what miracle had occurred for the moment and rest at the church.
While Erika could stand and walk, she was still severely depleted, so I entrusted her to Shara and explored the church.
The church’s interior was quite ordinary, nothing special to mention, but I will say that the Bishop’s words, “You’ll know the Divine Relic when you see it,” turned out to be true.
I have no obligation to protect him, but the Bishop did ask me to keep the matter of the Divine Relic confidential, so I’ll keep the details to myself.
I can at least honor that request.
After all, I did mistake Shara for an Assassin. I suppose I can do that much for the church folks.
Though, I won’t forgive them for trying to execute Erika.
Ah, I got sidetracked.
After resting for about an hour, we left the church.
It sounds foolish in hindsight, but as we walked, I was terrified about when we might stumble upon the corpses of innocent adventurers caught up in Rainivati’s Fifth.
It wasn’t so much the corpses themselves, but rather the thought of Erika’s face clouding over when she saw them that I hated.
As you know, such worries were needless. While we were retreating from the middle layer, other adventurers were desperately fighting off the Monsters pouring out from it.
This also happened because the Assassins dragged the Ogre Knight out from the Depths, so I suppose you could say it was indirectly our fault.
Still, being able to die fighting is probably better than dying after being caught up in Rainivati’s Fifth.
Besides, it seems there were no adventurer fatalities as a result, and they probably earned more than usual, so the adventurers were likely quite pleased.
By the time we exited the middle layer’s forest, we were fighting Monsters coming back from the shallower layers, so in that sense, I wished the adventurers of Hecate had worked a bit harder hunting them.
Because Erika kept happily firing off spells, just to show us, “Look, my Magicka has recovered quite a bit!”
Shara was less surprised and more exasperated, thinking, ‘Weren’t you completely out of Magicka just moments ago?’, while I worried because she still wasn’t fully recovered.
And to top it off, when we emerged from the forest, the Hecate adventurers who had been driving back the Monsters stirred and stepped back. What was that about?
Well, I was grateful they cleared the path without any unnecessary interaction.
After that, well, it was only me who needed it, but I cleaned my blood-soaked equipment with Purification Magic and returned home safely.
See? We didn’t do anything wrong, did we?
So stop looking so serious, okay? Senpai-dono.
*
“Husband, that’s asking the impossible, isn’t it?”
Merseja, sitting across the table, said with a sigh.
“What’s with this Rainivati’s Fifth? That thing isn’t supposed
Even the Bishop-sama couldn’t have predicted that Erika would depart for the Demon Realm with only one day of preparation, so we didn’t end up receiving any of that support.
And while I’m at it, the Bishop-sama believed too much in people’s ability to keep secrets.
“Um, so what you’re saying is, the Lord knew the very day you received the designated request, and by the next day, anyone who knew through the Adventurers Guild knew? Is that it?”
As I nodded, Merseja sighed and shook her head.
In other words, the number of people who knew about our movements was far greater than imagined. Considering how the rumors had spread, it’s foolish even to try counting.
Naturally, it’s difficult even to narrow down who the assassin is, or who leaked the information to someone plotting the assassination.
“Besides, something like Rainivati’s Fifth showed up. Realistically, it’s unlikely the Church is trying to assassinate her.”
If the Church had obtained something like Rainivati’s Fifth, or possessed the means to acquire it…
…it would cause an uproar of a completely different magnitude than just a piece of a Divine Relic being left behind in the Demon Realm Forest.
It’s the kind of thing that could easily lead to war between the countries of the continent and the Church.
“Hmm, well, I suppose so. Even setting aside the fact that they’re the kind of people who turn humans into Majin, the combination of the Church and Rainivati is far too volatile.”
Merseja made a face that seemed to say, “Good grief.”
“So? Did you find anything out on your end?”
An adventurer walking down the street noticed me, raised the bottle he was holding in a toast, so I casually returned the gesture while asking Merseja my question.
“No, nothing in Faltar. I consulted with the Prime Minister-sama, but…”
“But?”
“When he learned an assassin had been sent after her, he tried to mobilize the Marquis House’s Knights Order.”
I could easily imagine the Prime Minister’s face bright red with anger.
“Well, the people of the household stopped him, so he gave up on it,” Merseja recounted, her eyes gazing into the distance.
“By the way, why have the adventurers passing by been trying to shake your hand, Boss, toast you, or treat you to drinks?”
I answered while downing my fifth—no, maybe sixth—ale.
“Well, just try to imagine it.”
Suddenly, a massive horde of monsters overflows from the Demon Realm Forest with such tremendous force that even the adventurers who had entered the forest hastily retreat.
The adventurers who were out in the Demon Realm must have thought this:
This is bad. This might be a repeat of sixty years ago.
They send inexperienced adventurers running back to town as messengers and hurriedly construct a defensive line with the adventurers present.
The adventurers’ spirits must have been gloomy.
After all, it was the beginning of a battle with no end in sight.
The Demon Realm’s whims were common, but still, having such a large number of monsters pour out of the Demon Realm Forest like this was no ordinary event.
The hastily made joint front, however, still held out.
Around the time the reinforcements scraped together from the town arrived, a huge explosion occurred in the Demon Realm Forest.
The makeshift front line with its makeshift command structure was on the verge of collapse, one step short of utter chaos, but still, they pulled through.
What’s this? The massive horde of monsters is retreating!
Seizing the opportunity, they push the front line forward. What was that explosion? That’s something to think about later.
The adventurers did it! The monsters are finally fleeing back into the forest.
Roars of victory rise up; the adventurers’ excitement is at its peak.
Then, cutting their way through the horde of monsters, two adventurers and one Sister emerge from the forest.
Suddenly, someone mentions a rumor they heard in town: apparently, there were adventurers who received a secret request from the Bishop-sama.
Something about retrieving a Divine Relic left behind in the Demon Realm Forest, or something like that.
Then the rumors keep coming: I heard that too! They’re a male and female adventurer from Faltar! The man is a disciple of that ‘Kind Barbara’! They set out for the Demon Realm Forest today to retrieve it as soon as possible! Or something along those lines.
While all that was going on, a story formed among the adventurers.
The Demon Realm Forest bared its fangs at the adventurers who came to retrieve the Divine Relic. Undeterred, the adventurers advanced into the depths of the forest, found and retrieved the Relic there, and then—using some kind of mysterious power from the Relic they didn’t quite understand—mowed down the Demon Realm Forest, causing the frightened monsters to retreat back into the woods. That’s the story.
In short, fellow adventurers like them had pulled off something amazing.
“What is it with that weird vibe?”
Merseja said, her face looking like she was enduring a headache.
Well, honestly, I don’t really get it either.
But, based on what I heard from Shara, this seems to be how things are among the adventurers in Hecate.
Adventurers are mostly just people who decided to make a living through life-risking violence because there was nothing else they could become.
Basically, they’re not the sharpest tools in the shed.
There was an easy-to-believe story, and then the Bishop-sama went and grandly announced the retrieval of the Divine Relic, so now we’re treated like heroes among the Hecate adventurers.
Is it like a, “Yay! Our fellow adventurers accomplished a great feat!” kind of vibe?
It’s quite different from the vibe of Faltar’s adventurers, so I’m not sure how to react.
Merseja said with a deep sigh.
“I really thought you, at least, Boss, would try to live without standing out.”
“I intended to do just that, you know.”
“You intended to?”
“Trying not to stand out with the Erika Solntsalri was asking the impossible, I guess.”
Merseja glared askance at me as I shrugged.
“That’s something you should’ve realized before doing something that gets you treated like a hero less than two months after getting together, Boss.”
I averted my gaze from Merseja’s words and waved at Erika and Shara, who were walking towards us.